


dear future husband

by buckgaybarnes



Category: Pacific Rim (Movies)
Genre: Crushes, M/M, Passionate and Fascinating Exchange of Letters, Pining, Pre-Canon, this is a very silly short little thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-12
Updated: 2018-05-12
Packaged: 2019-05-05 20:26:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14626425
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buckgaybarnes/pseuds/buckgaybarnes
Summary: Hermann comes across the work of one Dr. Newton Geiszler purely by chance.(OR: Hermann Gottlieb, the original thirst follow.)





	dear future husband

**Author's Note:**

> so. this tweet: https://twitter.com/newtcumszler/status/993963022212218880 about that ridiculously Smooth picture of Young Charlie Day: https://imgur.com/vrwEsEr made me laugh my ass off so, obviously, the next course of action was to ask if i could immortalize it in fic form. please at least look at the picture before u read this because, honestly, it's. so much. (in other news, i spent 20 minutes trying to figure out how to embed a link and failed). also, i'm always interested in trying my hand at writing hermann, and i'm aggressively avoiding all my end-of-semester deadlines.
> 
> i'm not sure if we know for sure who sent the first Letter or if it's just widely accepted fanon that it was newt, but at any rate, my city now

There is a fine line, Hermann is aware, between admiring someone for their intellect and admiring someone for their looks.

Hermann comes across the work of one Dr. Newton Geiszler purely by chance. A co-worker in his department emails him the link to a new journal devoted entirely to kaiju science, knowing Hermann’s—and his father’s—vested interest in the subject. The journal, frankly, is a disappointment. Most of it is shoddily researched, reeking of pseudoscience, or simply too bogged-down with jargon to be comprehensible, and Hermann is very near giving it all up as a bad job when he reaches Dr. Geiszler’s article. Its content _is_ interesting—a more in-depth discussion of the proposed kaiju categorization system—though it is Dr. Geiszler’s style that appeals to him the most. Dr. Geiszler does not put on airs, or cover up logical fallacies with high prose; Dr. Geiszler does not overwhelm the reader, nor does he patronize; Dr. Geiszler writes clearly, with a confidence that is palpable _and_ well-earned.

Hermann is intrigued.

A quick Google search reveals more of Dr. Newton Geiszler’s (impressive) body of work: tissue cloning, some dabbling in mechanical engineering, robotics, countless more publications (mostly marine biology, but _all_ recent ones kaiju biology), and—curiously—a blog. The blog is composed mostly of links to Geiszler’s publications, with the occasional update on whatever Geiszler’s latest research is on; Hermann notes that Geiszler has a frequent tendency to jump from topic to topic.

And then he clicks the _About The Author_ page.

Dr. Newton Geiszler, Hermann learns, is scarcely a year younger than Hermann, boasts a ridiculousamount of PhDs that Hermann is half-convinced he’s lying about, is German-born (like Hermann) and lives in America (unlike Hermann), fronts a band, and holds a tenured position at MIT. This is not what makes Hermann quickly linger over the tab, however, with a blush rising to his cheeks and something tightening in his chest. This is the fault of the picture of himself Dr. Geiszler has chosen. Geiszler is absurdly young in it, with tousled hair and a plain t-shirt that allows the smallest glimpse of the lines of his throat, half-cast in shadow; it’s more a  _glamour shot_ than something any self-respecting doctor several times over would choose to represent himself on his official page.

“ _Completely_ unprofessional,” Hermann declares with a sniff, and then he right-clicks and saves the .jpg of Geiszler’s glamour shot to his laptop’s hard drive.

There is a fine line, Hermann is aware, between admiring someone for their intellect and admiring someone for their looks. Dr. Geiszler is an astoundingly brilliant and accomplished man, and Hermann has—by this point—pored over every single page Geiszler’s ever written at least twice. Yet: it is not Dr. Geiszler’s five thousand-and-ten words on kaiju blood toxicity that keep Hermann up night after night for a week after he stumbles across Geiszler’s blog, or why he begins prowling through the internet for video clips of Geiszler’s band, or why he’s currently sitting at his desk with a blank sheet of paper, a pen, and an envelope with Dr. Geiszler’s home address—stolen from MIT’s website’s directory—printed across it.

(A simple email, Hermann knows, would suffice just as well, possibly even better, as it does not run the risk of getting lost in transition, but there is something so staggeringly intimate about a handwritten letter. He thinks—he hopes—Dr. Geiszler may appreciate the gesture.)

_Dear Dr. Geiszler_ , Hermann almost begins, and stops.

He is not sure where to go from there. He is not sure, frankly, what he expects to come of this; Dr. Geiszler is clearly a very busy man, with better things to do than answer post from strangers overseas. Besides, how desperate would this make Hermann look, practically sending _fanmail_ like some lovestruck child? Hermann’s hit with a wave of self-consciousness and very nearly crumples up the piece of paper, but something stops him. Perhaps it’s the (secret, unfounded) hope that Dr. Geiszler’s achievements at such a young age have made him feel as isolated as Hermann’s have him, that Hermann might have found someone to call a friend.

Perhaps it’s that Dr. Geiszler is, for lack of a better word, _cute_.

_Dear Dr. Geiszler_ , Hermann thinks.

_Dear Dr. Geiszler, I am_ _quite_ _eager to collaborate with you. Dear Dr. Geiszler, I am single and unattached, are you? Dear Dr. Geiszler, I find myself fixated on the curvature of your jaw, the softness of your lips; I cannot help but wonder as to the shade of your eyes, what it might be like to mess up that hair myself. Dear Dr. Geiszler, has anyone ever told you that you are exceptionally handsome? Dear Dr. Geiszler, drinks on me?_

_Dear Dr. Geiszler_ , Hermann finally writes, chest tightening once more, _You do not know me, but I am an admirer of your work......_

 

Eleven days later, there’s a reply.

**Author's Note:**

> rejected line that i, unfortunately, could not fit in: "i'm impressed with your body.....of work". i also laughed for about 20 minutes when i thought of the title
> 
> as always, find me on twitter at hermanngaylieb or on tumblr at hermannsthumb!


End file.
